The invention relates to a process for manufacturing ary baked products and the like, such as crispbreads, torn rusks, for instance thin crisp-breads, torn breadrings dried on a bread pole, and baked snacks. The products are so called xe2x80x98plainxe2x80x99 products, but they can be processed further, for instance, by coating, filling, sprinkling or seasoning. With the process of the invention, products in the form of ready-for-use pieces are obtained, which products may be, for instance, round crispbreadxe2x80x94or thin-crispbread-based snacks.
The invention also relates to baked products manufactured with said process and their use for preparing further processed products. The invention also relates to products obtained by said further processing.
The products according to the invention are typically wholemeal products and thus very high in fiber. In further processed products, low-calorie and low-fat compositions can preferably be used as fillings/coatings. The invention allows manufacturing of products that are usable, for instance, as wholesome dietary products.
It has been observed that today the consumer desires, more and more, baked products of snack-type that are in the form of ready-for-use pieces or easily divisible into ready-for-use pieces. In these kinds of snack-products, attempts are made to achieve preferably small and thin products, for instance, so called xe2x80x98bite-sizexe2x80x99 products. In the manufacture of these products, problems have arisen from cereal ingredient.
When manufacturing round crispbreads, ready-for-use pieces are conventionally formed before baking in the oven by cutting round cakes of the crispbread dough, rolled into a sheet. The round crispbread cakes are conveyed into a baking oven. Surplus dough between the cakes causes dough loss, which can be prevented by returning it as xe2x80x98return doughxe2x80x99 to the beginning of the process to be remixed with fresh dough. Adding the return dough has a negative effect on the quality of the product, for instance, on colour. At baking step, the edges of round cakes tend to bake more than the centres, so baking is uneven, and moreover, filling the oven grate evenly with small products is a problem. When the size of a product is reduced, also another problem arises, i.e. at dough step, before baking, the production line tends to get jammed, for instance, when transferring round dough cakes from one dough cloth onto another.
When producing conventional, rectangular crispbread pieces, the crispbread dough is baked in the oven as a continuous sheet or plate, and the ready-for-use pieces are formed after baking by cutting and sawing, so that the bread structure shows at the outer edge of the product, i.e. the edge is xe2x80x98openxe2x80x99. This method brings about a problem, for instance, that at baking step dark, scorched edges are in general formed in the dough sheet or plate that have to be cut off, and as a result product loss may be quite considerable. Product loss occurs also in connection with sawing ready-for-use pieces. When manufacturing conventional crispbread, product loss at cutting and sawing step may be in the range of 10 to 12%, and with small product pieces the product loss may increase up to 25 to 35%.
Finnish Patent 58,578 discloses a process for manufacturing crisp-breads and corresponding products. In this process, breaking lines, i.e. weakening lines for breaking up consumer pieces or serving pieces, are scored in a pre-baked product. The score is done on the surface of the dough sheet only, not all way through the dough sheet to the bottom of the dough sheet. The scoring technique in accordance with the Finnish Patent is illustrated in FIG. 1, point a) showing a cross section of a bread sheet with a scoring mark 1 in the upper crust of the bread sheet. The scoring mark does not reach the crumb structure 3 of the bread sheet, nor the bottom crust 4. Thus, products, i.e. final ready-for-use pieces are not essentially cut out from the dough sheet, but the forming of final ready-for-use pieces always necessitates breaking up at a later stage his process permits manufacturing of rectangular products only, not for instance, round products. Forming the ready-for-use pieces is effected, for instance, by sawing in a longitudinal direction and breaking up in a transversal direction.
The manufacture of torn products, for instance, thin crispbreads, comprises an additional step of tearing the baked bread sheet. The torn thin crispbread sheet is divided into ready-for-use pieces after baking, and the pieces are dried and as a consequence they tend to bend/curl up.
It is essential to the process of the invention that a baked bread sheet, in the form of a continuous plate, is divided into ready-for-use pieces while the starch in the bread sheet is in elastic state, the bread sheet remaining essentially continuous, and the hardened ready-for-use pieces are then detached from one another. In connection with the present invention, hardened ready-for-use pieces and hardened bread sheet refer to such a bread sheet/ready-for-use pieces whose starch is crystallized, non-elastic, after baking/drying.
The invention relates to a process for the manufacture of dry, baked products in the form of ready-for-use pieces, in which process a dough sheet is prepared that is docked and baked, possibly torn and possibly dried. The process is characterized by comprising following steps:
the baked bread sheet is divided into ready-for-use pieces while the starch in the bread sheet is in elastic state, the bread sheet remaining essentially continuous, and
the hardened ready-for-use pieces separate or are made to separate from one another.
The division into ready-for-use pieces is preferably carried out by using a patterning device provided with blades that are pressed in the bread sheet, which is in elastic state, in such a manner that the blades penetrate the surface of the bread sheet and substantially go all the way through the bread sheet to the bottom of the bread sheet.
In the process of the invention, division into ready-for-use pieces can be carried out after baking, or alternatively, in connection with drying or thereafter, it is essential that the starch contained in the bread sheet is in elastic state. The bread sheet is to be warm, typically over 60xc2x0 C.
When manufacturing torn products, for instance thin crispbreads, division into ready-for-use pieces is carried out after baking and tearing, or alternatively, in connection with drying or thereafter, while the bread sheet is still warm. If the products are desired to be as planar as possible, division into ready-for-use pieces is carried out preferably in connection with drying or thereafter, while the bread sheet is warm. In case it is not substantial that the product has an absolute plane form, in other words, the products may be, for instance, bent or curled up, division into ready-for-use pieces may be carried out immediately after baking.